Santos hoping to tempt Diego back to the Vila Belmiro

Folha de S. Paulo are reporting today that Santos are looking to take playmaker Diego back to the club for next season as a replacement for Ganso, who left for São Paulo last month. Santos are looking to use the money from that deal to rebuild their midfield, which has also suffered since the sale of Elano to Grêmio, and have also spoken with AC Milan about taking Robinho back to the Vila Belmiro.

Diego, 27, joined Santos as a 12-year-old and won the Brasileiro in 2002. That side, coached by Émerson Leão, contained not only a 16-year-old Diego but Robinho, Elano and Alex, triumphed over Corinthians 3-2 in a two-legged play-off final.

The playmaker's spell in Europe has been quite up and down since joining Porto in 2004 as a replacement for Deco. Arguably he found his best form at Werder Bremen in Germany, a spell which earned him a move to Italian giants Juventus. However, his time in Turin was unsuccessful and a move back to Germany, this time with Wolfsburg, quickly followed.

Again, this move failed to take off and last season was spent on-loan at Atletico Madrid, where he won the Europa League, before returning to Wolfsburg in the summer.